Learn some Tagalog with Jonny

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It’s summertime!! Let’s get wet!!!

Life in the Philippines is a beach like this one in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte.

Mabuhay and let’s get wet!

If you do come to the Philippines, you’re Philippine experience wouldn’t be complete without a visit to either of the hundreds of majestic beaches in the country. There are beaches with different colours of sand including yellow, pink, white and even black. Examples of famous beaches include white sands of Boracay, El Nido in Palawan, Panglao in Bohol, Batangas, Surigao, Pagudpud, Marinduque and the black sand beaches of Albay province in Bicol Region.

Anyway on with the lesson.

There are several Tagalog words for the word “beach”. Those three words can be:

baybay-dagat – this is can be found in the phrasebooks but you won’t hear people say this.

playa – this is also spoken. Came from the Spanish word meaning the same thing.

Beaches are full of water. Water in general as in the water in the oceans, from the sink or drinking water in Tagalog is tubig.

WARNING: Do not drink tap water in the Philippines. Buy bottled water instead.

Obviously, if you go in the water, you’ll get wet. Duh!

The Tagalog word for wet is basa.

e.g. Basa ang tubig. – Water is wet. Sorry for the lame example.

NOTE: The pronunciation of basa is that there is more stress on the second syllable as in /buh-SAH/. If the stress is on the first syllable as in /BAH-sa/ the word will have a different meaning which it means “to read”. Don’t be confused.

Hopefully you know how to swim. Don’t worry about getting eaten by a shark. There aren’t many.

There are several words for “to swim”: lumangoy and maligo

lumangoymainly refers to the technique of swimming including lifting your arms out of the water and back into to it again in order to move around the water.

e.g Marunong ka bang lumangoy? – Do you know how to swim?

maligo, however, usually means “to get wet”. It means either, “to take a bath” or “to go for a dip in a pool or beach”. The former would be the most common meaning for the word as it’s something you do everyday. If you don’t do it everyday however, maligo ka na!!

e.g Naliligo ako araw-araw. – I take a bath everyday.

e.g. Maliligo ang bata sa playa. The child will (go for a) swim at the beach.

Once again, hopefully you enjoy your trip to the Philippines and your trip wouldn’t be complete without visiting any of the country’s wonderful beaches or going for a swim like this one in Batangas.